Franklin students see mock crash scene

High school juniors herded out the back doors of school yesterday morning were met with a grisly sight. Fellow student Caitlyn Gearin lay unnaturally still on the grass triangle in the back parking lot, her limbs awkwardly sprawled, her clothing torn and red.

High school juniors herded out the back doors of school yesterday morning were met with a grisly sight.

Fellow student Caitlyn Gearin lay unnaturally still on the grass triangle in the back parking lot, her limbs awkwardly sprawled, her clothing torn and red.

A small gray car sat several feet away, its front end smashed, the driver unconscious, with her head against the side window in what looked like blood spatter.

Once students had assembled in front of the scene, a black car sped around the corner, and another group of high schoolers leapt out, running toward the crash, hysterical and screaming.

When one of the newcomers opened the gray car’s front driver’s side door, a few beer cans tumbled out.

The scene may have been moving — especially when Gearin’s mother identified her “body” and she was loaded into the back of a hearse — but it wasn’t real.

The mock crash was part of the high school’s attempt to warn students of the dangers of driving drunk before school let out early for last night’s junior prom.

“It was eye-opening,” high school junior Becca Seifer said. “As kids, you don’t think about what would happen until it does. It definitely told us what the consequences could be if you drink and drive.”

The school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions group put on the mock crash.

“I thought it was very educational,” junior Nick Forsythe said. “I know not to do that. I know what will happen.”

Police officers held back students as they screamed accusations of murder at the drunk driver, gave one of the passengers a sobriety test and pulled more beer cans and cardboard beer boxes from the car.

“Those are the worst calls a police department can go to,” Franklin Officer Donald MacLean told students after the staged scene was cleared.

“We all know tonight is prom night. We ask you, we beg you, to make safe decisions tonight.”

The school day wasn’t over after the mock crash, though. Students went back inside to the field house, and sat on bleachers where an older woman pointed to a photo of a pretty young girl projected onto a large screen.

“The picture on the screen behind me is my daughter,” the woman said, who introduced herself as Samantha White of Ashland. “The anniversary of her death was yesterday.”

White’s then-20-year-old daughter was the victim of a drunk driving crash 24 years ago, and her story was not staged.

“It broke me. I fell apart,” White told students. “Every bone in her body had been broken, every organ had been torn, her skull had been fractured.”

Page 2 of 2 - White, now an author and a bereavement therapist, told students about the lasting devastation left behind when a young person dies because of drunk driving.

“It doesn’t seem like such a big deal to have too much to drink,” White said. “When someone who has been drinking (drives and) kills someone ... that’s homicide. It’s as though you pulled a gun out of your pocket and shot someone through the chest.”

“If this conversation that we’re having keeps you alive, then her death and my pain won’t be wasted,” White said. “You want to get to 21. It’s a good age. I recommend it.”

The Franklin junior prom was held last night at the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham.

Alison McCall can be reached at 508-634-7521 or amccall@wickedlocal.com.